Piano-action.



1%. 872,551. 7 PATENTBD nnc. s, 1907. J. ANDERSON.

PIANO ACTION. nruouxol rILnn n3. 5 1001.

JOHN ANDERSON, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

PIANO-ACTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 3, 1907.

Application filed April 5. 1907. Serial No. 366,466,

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN ANDERSON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Piano-Actions, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is a specification, like letters on the drawing representing like parts.

This invention relates to piano actions and particularly to grand piano actions.

In the manufacture of grand pianos, it is now a common practice to pivot each hammer shank to a separate wooden block which is in turn secured to the rail of the piano action, and to provide each block with an adjustable stop with which the end of the repeating lever engages when the corresponding key is struck. The pivoting of each hammer shank to a separate wooden block involves the necessity of leveling up each block separately during the manufacture of the piano in order that the hammers may move in the proper plane with relation to the string.

For many reasons it is preferable to pivot all the hammer shanks to a metal flange member which is secured to the rail of the iano action for in this way the lining up of he hammer shanks can be more easily accomplished, but where a metal flange is used it is not feasible to screw-thread the adjustable stop for the repeatin lever into said flange because where sai stop is screwthreaded into a metal part, it is ve apt to work loose sufficiently to rattle w on the piano is played.

It is the object of my invention to provide a novel construction by means of which it is possible to use the metal flange member for the pivotal support for the hammer shanks without danger of any of the parts working loose or causing any annoyance.

I will first describe one embodiment of my invention and then point out the novel features thereof in the appended claims.

Figure 1 is a side view of a grand piano action embod 'ng my invention; Fig. 2 is a detail view sl ihwing the manner of pivotally mounting the hammer shanks; Fig. 3 is a detail of the wi pen and its mounting.

3 is the rail of the piano action to which the hammer shanks 4 are usually pivoted; 5 is the wippen which is pivoted to the rail 6; 7 is the jack; and 28 is the repeating lever which is pivotally mounted on the post 29 carried by the wippen 5, as usual. These parts, with the exception of the repeating lever, are or may be all as usually found in grand piano actions, and form no part of my present invention.

Instead of pivotally mounting the ham.- mer shanks 4 to wooden blocks which are in turn secured to the rail 3, as usual, I employ a metal flange member 8 which is rigidly secured to the rail 3 in any suitable way and which has projecting therefrom arms or projections 9 to which the hammer shanks are pivoted. Each arm is provided on its upper face with a groove 1.0 to receive the pins 11 of the hammer shanks, said shanks being forked, as usual, and the forked ends straddling the arms 9, as best seen in Fig. 2. The pins 11 are held in the grooves 10 by means of caps or retainers 13 which are secured to the flange 8 or to the projections 9 by suitable screws 14. The caps or retainers are held in proper position by means of positioning pins 21 rising from the flange member 8 and received in notches in the ends of the caps 13, as plainly seen in the drawings.

Whenever the wippen is rocked by the key, the left-hand end of the repeating lever engages either the flange or the block to which the hammer-shank is ivoted as is well understood by those skille in the art. In order to secure the proper adjustment it is necessary to provide an adjustable stop so that the repeating lever will be brought to rest against the flange at the roper time to secure the desired after-fall o the hammer. In pianos as reviously made this proper ad-. justment of t 1e repeating lever is secured by an adjustable stop carried'by the block to which the hammer shank is pivoted, but with the construction herein shown wherein the hammer shank is pivoted to the metal flange, it is not feasible to place the stop in the flange member 8, partly because there is no suitable room to place this stop, and partly because if the stop were screw-threaded into the flange, it would very soon become so loose as to rattle when the piano is operated and thus interfere materially with the musical effect desired to be produced. In order to make it possible to use the metal flange I have in the present embodiment of my invention mounted the adjustable stop on the repeating lever.

30 is the stop herein shown as having a head provided with a cushion 31 of felt and a shank 32 which is screw-threaded into the end 33 of the repeating lever. Said repeating lever may desired be formed With a suitable recess 34 so as to'provide a greater range of adjustment of the stop.

The raising of the wippen by the key brings the stop 30 against the under side of the flange member 8, as will be obvious, and because the shank of said stop is screw-threaded into the repeating lever which is always made of wood, said stop will not become loosened sufficiently to rattle during the op eration of the piano, as would be the case if it were laced 1n the flange member 8.

The ange 8 preferably extends the length ,of the rail 3 and may conveniently be made in a milling machine. The grooves 10 may be all cut at one operation and when this is done they are in absolute alinement. The use of the flange member 8 makes the proper alining of the hammer-shanks a very much easier task than when said shanks are pivoted to wooden blocks, and if any adjustment is found to be necessary any one of the arms 9 may be twisted slightly with a suitable tool to bring any particular hammershank into its proper position. ing of the hammer-shanks to the flange memher as herein shown, has the further advantage that any hammer-shank can be readily removed by simply removing the corresponding cap or retainer 13 and without disturbing in any way the flange member 8, and said hammer-shank can be as readilyreplaced. I have also herein shown the wlppens 5 as pivotally mounted on a flange 15 which in turn is securedto the rail 6. The flange 15 is similar in construction to the flange 8, it being provided with arms 17 provided with grooves in Which the pins 19 carried by the wippens are received, said pins being held in The pivotplace by caps or retainers 20. The caps are secured-to the arms 19 by means of screws 18 and are positioned by suitable pins 24 that are received in notches in, the caps. This construction permits any individual wippen to be readily removed from the piano by merely removing the corresponding retainer 20, as will be obvious. It will be noted that the end of the screw-threaded shank 32 of the stop 30 projects below the repeating lever and is in position to be readily adjusted by reaching in under the rail 3.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. The combination with the rail of a piano action, of a metal flange member secured thereto provided with arms or tongues integral therewith, hammer-shanks pivoted to said arms, a pivoted repeating lever beneath each hammer shank, and an adjustable stop carried by the end of each repeating lever and adapted. to engage the under side of the flange member when said lever is o erated.

2. The combination with the rai of a piano action of a hammer-shank pivotally supported thereby, a wippen, a repeating lever pivoted on the wippen, and an adjustable stop carried by the end of the repeating lever adjacent the rail and projecting above said lever in osition to engage the pivotal support of t e hammer-shank when the wippen is operated.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

. JOHN ANDERSON.

Witnesses:

GEo. W. GREGORY, A. O. GREGORY. 

